ISSN: 2560-1601 Vol. 11, No. 1 (MK) October 2018 Macedonia Political briefing: The Days After Macedonia’s Referendum Anastas Vangeli 1052 Budapest Petőfi Sándor utca 11. +36 1 5858 690 Kiadó: Kína-KKE Intézet Nonprofit Kft.
[email protected] Szerkesztésért felelős személy: Chen Xin Kiadásért felelős személy: Huang Ping china-cee.eu The Days After Macedonia's Referendum Introduction On September 30, Macedonia held a nation-wide referendum on the proposed change of the constitutional name and on the global orientation of the country. The referendum took place in a tense, stressful and polarized political atmosphere, with Macedonia receiving an unprecedented amount of international attention (see previous briefs). The referendum question read “Are you in favor of European Union and NATO membership by accepting the agreement between the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Greece?” The phrasing of the question reflected the complex situation in which Macedonia has found itself: a compromise with Greece on the long-standing name issue, an immensely complex political operation, was seen as a prerequisite for advancing in the accession to the NATO and EU, which has been proclaimed as major strategic goal by all Macedonian governments since the independence. The referendum ended with a contradictory outcome. On one hand, more than 94% of the voters who turned out, voted in favor of the Prespa Agreement. However, the total turnout was far below the threshold – less than 37% of the registered voters used their right to vote; 63% of the registered voters did not vote at all. Below we discuss the interpretations of the outcome of the referendum, and the next steps that the Macedonian government took in implementing the Prespa Agreement.